User Reviews

Overall Rating:

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Submitted by
Joe
a AudioPhile

Date Reviewed: March 11, 2014

Bottom Line:

It's 2013 and this particular Velodyne CT150 is still alive and kicking! On my local Craigslist there was a guy selling a 7.1 Polk Audio rti10 system. While I don't consider those Polk Audio mains or bookshelfs even remotely in the same league as my 9.2 system, the subwoofer the seller had was what interested me. I sent him an email offering $150 as he was a four hour round trip from me. He accepted and upon my arrival offered the rti10 towers for another $100 so I picked them up and they're currently being used as a bi amplified computer speaker system with four Dayton Audio APA150's in bridged mono mode, the APA150 by the way is an amazing budget power amplifier and identical to the discontinued Emotiva BPA-1. Now onto the CT-150...

Originally I was running two Mirage bipolar dual 10" driver subwoofers. They each have a 400 watt RMS 800 watt peak amplifier and create usable bass down to 18hz according to my SPL meter and bass wave sweep tests. I own everything from Polk Audio PSW505's, to Energy S10.3's, HSU Research VTF12's, B&W ASW1000, SVS PB13 ultra and a single Velodyne DD12. You can almost trace my progress in life through the audio gear I own haha, better job, better gear. Lately I had been enjoying the pair of vintage Mirage subs as I am a Mirage collector. From the beloved M1's to the newer OMD-28's I've got them. Currently I have a pair of Mirage Omni 260 towers for mains, an Omnj 60 bookshelf for a center, a pair of Omni 60's for front heights, Omni 60's for side surrounds and Omni 60's for rear surrounds all connected to a Pioneer Elite SC75 and 9 Emotiva Monoblocks. There's just something about the Omni series I love. One thing they're known to lack and I can attest to this is bass, the towers will reach down to 35hz and the bookshelfs 45hz but it's not the kick in the pants LF you want for home theater.

I inspected the CT150 from top to bottom, no damage to the driver or surrounds , amplifier didn't make any buzzing or humming sounds, all knobs were present and functioned as they should. The only flaw was the grill was slightly frayed on the bottom which I didn't plan on using so it's a non issue. I connected the CT150 with a 25ft Acoustic Research shielded and directionally balanced master series subwoofer into an Acoustic Research Master series shielded and directionally balanced Y adapter, all connections were made with the RCA locking pins built into the cable and y adapter to ensure a solid connection. The subwoofer gain was set at roughly 3.5 which resulted in 72.2-72.3 decibels which when ran with 75 decibel speaker levels gives you that nice balanced channel sound.

I disabled the CT150's crossover and let my SC75 handle bass management as you should with any home theater, the AVR's crossover was set to 80hz. I popped in the first Transformers movie into my Oppo Blu Ray player connected with an Audioquest HDMI v1.4 cable. All audio components, including the CT150, were connected to an Acoustic Research Master series 10 outlet power conditioner.

In the first battle scene where the Decepticon attacks the military base and there's lots of 40-70hz explosions and weapon fire I was totally blown away. This is an 11 year old subwoofer with 300 watts of nominal power driving a 15" woofer and it had me convinced it was a current model $2,000 subwoofer. The tightness and power this subwoofer outputs is incredible. at reasonable levels there is no distortion to speak of. Obviously like any speaker if pushed to it's limits there is a small amount of audible distortion but at incredibly uncomfortably loud levels. All my fears of the bass being muddy were put to rest and throughout the remainder of the movie the CT150 continued to amaze me. I'm no stranger to mid range to high end consumer grade audio products, and back in 2002 and I would have paid the retail cost of thus she woofer without a second thought. I'm used to running stereo subwoofers but with the CT150 I'm more than happy with a single unit.

Let me be clear about this, if you can find one of these, buy it. Obviously ensure it's in good condition and fully functional but otherwise TAKE IT HOME. One thing I have to mention is having such a large driver the cabinet is HUGE and I would assume the wife acceptance factor is a negative 5. I have mine placed 6" from the side wall and 12" from the rear wall. I have ATK acoustic panels and bass traps throughout my room and the overall effect is fantastic. I've had numerous people come over and the first thing they always say is "That huge thing is a subwoofer!' I haven't done much critical listening of music with it yet so I can't comment on that, I can tell you for cinema this subwoofer will blow your socks off!

I've had this product for a few years, and honestly I thought it saw a premature death. I was getting a lot rattle from the cabinet, so I took it apart and accidently shorted out the amplifier. Opps.

Turns out the amp is pretty cheezy anyway. It is amazing that an amp that small could drive that big of a driver...

Well I gave the thing new life by powering it with a 100 watt channel in my Adcom GFA 6000 amp. The adcom is a pretty high current, multi channel amp that could heat a small apartment, but staying on topic here... I hooked up the sub out from my audio system, sealed the driver, and bam, good as new (maybe better as the amp probably delivers more power than the built in).

I still think this is a good product. Build quality and electronics are on the low end side, but this thing can move a bunch of air quickly! It has amazingly low distortion for driver of this size. A lot of people say that it isn't good for music, but I tend to disagree. I think it is much better than most subs in this range.

I think it is on par sound wise with the sunfire products, which I will admit are unique because of their small size, but they are also much more expensive.

I am pretty anal about sound quality and clean, loud sound. I bought an fsx 12 before this one and was inpressed with the sound quality and accuracy, but is just did not have any balls with only 120w rms against my klipsch mains. This unit for the money, in short, just puts a smile on my face every time I hear it. Trust me there is no music without synthisized lows that could even think of maxing this unit out. I have fed it everything in my arsinal including 18hz bass input signals and it just wants more. Bottom line, it will do everything you can get from a single 15, just a hair dirtier than the 3k subs. It is not as musical as the smaller subs as it needs good mains to compliment it as it runs very low and the mains will need to get the mid bass covered. For dvd's though, it will make your chest hurt in a good acousically sound room. I bought this sub after looking at the reviews on this site and talking with an older guy at velodyne which was very upfront and helpfull with selecting a sub for my listing style. Buy one or even two and you will be happy with the investment, trust me. If you want little to no distortion though you will love the hgs 15 as is is smaller cleaner and louder and yes more money.
Brandon

Well I've had my CT-150 for a few months now and I'll say that I've been very satified with it. When I was in the market to get a Sub, I hadn't even heard of velodyne ( OK, you can stop laughing now! ). I went to circuit city with $500 planning on leaving with a Polk subwoofer. While I was auditioning the polk 450 I heard an explosion coming through the wall. My salesperson immediately got upset and went over to where the sound was coming from. He told me he would be right back but curiosity got the best of me, so I followed him. I entered the demo room that he went in. It was then that I was first introduced to velodyne subwoofers. My decision was made. The rest was history.

I've used a handful of D.V.D. scenes to test my sub. For example, ATTACK scene in Pearl Harbor, 2 Dinosaurs fighting in Jurassic Park III, Pod Race scene in Star Wars Episode One and my favorite, the Troll scene in Harry Potter. All of which the velodyne ate for lunch. When the two dinosaurs fight, you feel your chest shaking. Although it's fun, it can be quite exhausting. The ct-150 has been nothing short of extraodinary. I must admit, although my other test dvds are good, I never realized how deep this sub can go until I through in Lord of the Rings last night. Unbelievable!!!!!! I you're luck enough to find one of these, don't hesitate to pick it up. Blows away everything in it's price range. enjoy.

For all readers who are in the market for a modestly priced sub (in comparison to many other high end subs), stop right here. I spent over a month testing and re-testing subs between the price range of $400 and $700, until I stumbled on this deal. I am extremely pleased with how this Velodyne sounds. It has a very clean sound with almost limitless volume capabilities. Just to experiment, I cranked this baby up to a volume of 8 and found little distortion. Because this model is getting replaced, I would imagine that you could find some really good deals as I did.